Stand on the Promises of God 1

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

The promises of God which are yea and amen in Christ Jesus are not in the stratosphere. They are within easy reach in the word of God. However, these promises can only be identified through a diligent study of the word of God. Do you want to know the promises of God concerning you? Then speedily commence a diligent study of the word of God to unravel the promises which cover about every area of life; some of which are:

Healing and Divine Health

I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exodus Chapter 15 verse 26) as well as other Scriptures on healing are clear pointers that it is the will of God for you to be in divine health at all times. God takes the trouble to heal you and keep you in divine health because He wants you to succeed. He wants to showcase you to the world which is why He does not allow you to be affected by sicknesses and diseases, be bedridden and incapacitated for success. A sick body and mind cannot succeed. That is why God ensures that you are mentally whole and capacitated to reflect on Philippians Chapter 4 verse 5. That is also why God keeps you physically strong, whole and capacitated to move about, engage in physical and mental as well as spiritual activities that generate money. God loves you. He says He will heal you of any disease the enemy may want to afflict you with. Please see Psalm 103 verses 3 to 4, Exodus Chapter 23 verses 25 to 26.

Gain Altitude

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

To gain altitude is to rise above certain levels beyond sea level. Planes gain altitude. So also do birds. In like manner, a person can also gain altitude in the journey of life. Such ascents could be spiritual, physical, mental or even financial. Therefore, gain attitude in knowledge, understanding, wisdom, relationships despite what the enemy whose major agenda is to prevent you from rising may do. Remember that believers are often targets of satanic opposition.

Altitude takes you ahead of the pack. One of the ways to gain altitude is to be financially resourceful and savvy so that you can manage financial resources to advantage and expansion.

Also make very determined and conscious efforts on a daily basis to become the global change agent God created you to be. Stop fighting battles that are not yours especially insignificant battles that will move you nowhere.

Use the current resources at your disposal to move from where you are now to where God wants you to be. One of such resources is the word of God. The word of God has the capacity to elevate you and take out of the dust and ash heap as well as obscure positions of life to significance, relevance, dominance, limelight, favor, wealth and abundant life that Jesus Christ purchased for you with His precious blood. Please see John Chapter 10 verse 10.  Jesus Christ used the existing structures and platforms of the religious establishment of the day. He taught the people in their synagogues, preached from boats, on mountain tops, from street corners, healed on the streets and cast out demons on the streets. He did not wait to own or rent cathedrals before doing the work of the kingdom. How about financial autonomy? Was He dependent on the tithes and offerings of the people? Not at all! The religious establishment of the day did not acknowledge and recognize Him as a Priest, Prophet or Levite so he was exempt from the benefits of the tithe. Also, Jesus did not request for such tithes. Yet, He led and fed not only His disciples but the multitudes who followed Him. He also did not shirk His civic responsibilities. He paid taxes. How did He make the money? He asked Peter to go fishing to get the money. This implies that you can make money from your skills, talents and areas of expertise. The women who supported His ministry with their money and other resources were an additional source of income.

Leapfrog Generational Limitations

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Generational limitations are certain limitations that run in families, institutions, communities and nations. Some of them include poverty, barrenness, idolatry, failure, obscurity, etc; and have become entrenched in families, in fact so deeply entrenched that like palm trees, they are difficult to uproot. Members of such families, institutions, communities and nations take it for granted that they can never rise above such limitations so each succeeding generation does not make any attempt or efforts to uproot the limitations. They lamely accept them and live with them.

Beloved, this is a lie from the pit of hell. You can actually leapfrog every generational limitation because God created you to succeed. The same God Who is the King of kings and Lord of lords Who knows that you can rise above whatever generational limitations exist in that family allowed you to be born into that family for a reason; so that you will break and destroy that limitation by the power and grace of God at work in your life. That way, you will rise above the limitation and change the negative history of that family.

Definitely, you cannot do this in your own strength which explains why God equipped you specially with certain gifts designed to make you a positive change agent in that family. You can rewrite the history of your family through those gifts. The widow of the indebted son of the prophet rewrote her family history with just a jar of oil. Her family was freed from the generational limitation of financial indebtedness that threatened debt bondage. Rahab rewrote her history by being hospitable to the two spies.

Encounter Divine Destiny

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

An encounter is a sudden meeting.

A divine encounter is a meeting with God and it is usually a day for a divine turnaround. It is a sudden visitation of God in your life in which God holds a personal meeting with you. Every child of God should experience a divine encounter as every divine encounter is the precursor to discovering purpose in life. It is a day of discovering destiny. Irrespective of what you have achieved in life now, there is a segment for meeting with divine destiny to bring about transformation in your life that is consistent with divine destiny. Until you have the encounter, you may be in a segment that is inconsistent with divine destiny. Moses’ background in Pharaoh’s house and Midian were irrelevant until he experienced divine encounter. Moses moved from shepherding flocks for his father in-law to national and global leadership of Israel shepherding God’s flock. Please see Exodus Chapter 3 verses 1 to 7.

When you have a divine encounter, everything changes. Gideon was a frightened young man threshing wheat in a winepress when he experienced divine encounter. The fearful young man who thought he was a nobody became a national hero who God used to free the nation of Israel from the intimidation and oppression of Midian. But for a divine encounter, Gideon would have remained unknown and insignificant. A divine encounter will make your life relevant; give you global visibility, significance, fame and wealth.

King Solomon experienced divine encounter and became the wealthiest and wisest King on earth. Kings, Queens, prominent people from different nations came to hear his wisdom and see his vast wealth. In point of fact, the Bible records that silver was as common as sand during his reign as king in Israel.

Do Not Give Up on God

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

What does it mean to give up on God? To give up on God is as good as walking out on God or walking away completely from God because you are convinced that God did not come through for you, will not come through for you. Beloved, the truth and reality is that God always comes through for His own even when the answer He gives is NO. You may not understand the reasons for His NO because you cannot see beyond now. But God sees beyond now to eternity and forever. He therefore has very cogent reasons for saying NO or even WAIT.

God loves you and has great plans including resources for fulfilling the plans He has for you. However, God unveils the strategies one step at a time and sometimes you may not even understand as some strategies may appear to be working against you. Take for instance the case of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his siblings. Unknown to both Joseph and his siblings then, slavery in Egypt was one of the steeping stones to actualizing Joseph’s global leadership goal. How about when he was eventually thrown into prison for no just cause? Unknown to Potiphar’s wife, Potiphar and even Joseph himself, that was the final rung on the ladder to the palace. Can you imagine what would have happened if Joseph gave up on God? He may have missed the coming glory which appeared elusive considering the very unpleasant circumstances he found himself in yet was very close. Just a little patience coupled with absolute faith in God and Joseph made it to the top.

How about King David of Israel? Severally, David could have given up on God on account of the extenuous circumstances that constantly assailed him such as the several threats to his young life by King Saul that rendered him homeless for years( he had to seek refuge in the land of the Philistines). When Saul eventually died, there was a long feud between David and the house of Saul until God eventually gave David victory and established him as King in Israel. How about his travails at the hands of his son Absalom, the treachery by his trusted friend Ahitophel; and the subsequent humiliation by Shimei (a close relation of the late King Saul who rejoiced at Absalom’s treatment of David); and who rained curses on David and pillaged him and his entourage with stones? In all of these, David did not give up on God. He was steadfast, stayed true to God and was eventually vindicated by God.

Divine Pathways to Fame 2

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

God is the One Who raises the poor and needy out of the dust, from obscurity and insignificance, dishonor and lack into limelight, significance, relevance, honor and wealth – Psalm 113 verses 7 to 8, 1^st Samuel Chapter 2 verses 7 to 10, Psalm 78 verses 70 to 72, 107 verse 41, 145 verse 14. Some biblical examples include Hannah, Joseph, Abraham, Daniel, Mordecai, Esther, Obed-Edom, Ruth, Rahab, Mary the mother of Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, David,

God raises the poor out of the dust. David was an unknown shepherd boy in Israel, the least of his father’s sons yet God in His infinite mercy chose to make David king in Israel, and gave him national and regional fame as time progressed. Psalm 78 verses 70 to 72, 113 verses 7 to 8, 1^st Samuel Chapter 16 verses 1 to 13, 2 verses 7 to 8, and Isaiah Chapter 43 verse 19.

God raised Ruth out of Moab, widowhood without children and money, obscurity and who knows what else would have befallen her in Moab to become the wife of Boaz, a significant and well known man of substance in Israel as well as the mother of Obed, who fathered Jesse, the father of King David. Ruth Chapters 1 to 4. In essence, Ruth, the unknown Moabitess became an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ – Matthew Chapter 1 verse 5.

Rahab also rose to limelight and fame by the grace of God after she sheltered and protected the two spies sent by Joshua to Jericho. The Rahab who was described as a harlot in Joshua Chapters 2 verse 1, 6 verse 17, 22, 25 is mentioned in the lineage of Jesus Christ as the wife of Salmon and mother of Boaz who married Ruth and fathered Obed, the grandfather of King David.

Esther, a Jewish captive and orphan in Babylon; living with her older cousin Mordecai became famous, royalty when she married King Ahasuerus, the then ruler of a vast empire that spanned Asia and some parts of Europe. Significantly, God raised her to fulfill divine purpose. It is also significant to note that everyone God raised out of the obscure situations and positions in life fulfilled divine purposes.

God Cares

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

In my lifetime as a Minister of the gospel of Christ, a Counselor, an Intercessor, a child, a wife, a parent, a trainer/speaker, researcher, writer, editor and what ever else I have done and am still doing, I dare say that I have come across many people, black, white and coloreds, globally and nationally. I have also seen many faces, beautiful faces, sad faces, angry faces, hungry faces, worried faces, fearful and anxious faces. Yet none has left such an impression on me as the very hungry faces that are hungry, not for food, material things or wealth, not even knowledge but for love.

They are hungry for someone to love them, own them, appreciate them, celebrate them and protect them in a world they are struggling to understand. What pain fills their hearts and reflects in their sad faces, their rebellion and aggression coupled with the inferiority complex that lack of love fosters on people!

Apart from weeping in my heart and praying for such people when I see them, I also long to share a smile, beautiful words of love and encouragement God regularly plants in my heart for such people. Sometimes they respond but at other times, the very deeply hungry who wonder if they could ever find love on this side of the universe just ignore such advances. Too bad! My tears go deeper into intercession for them so that someday they will know and understand the love that is greater than all loves and that can completely fill the aching void in their hearts.

Define Your Environment

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Joseph was born a five talent person - a dreamer of dreams, an interpreter of dreams and situations, blessed with the divine gift of solving problems and creating order out of chaos. Significantly, God was with him and he had divine favor.

Unfortunately for Joseph, he was born and raised in a one talent environment devoid of the nurturing processes and care to express and utilize his five talents for the actualization of divine purposes. Additionally, Joseph talked endlessly about his talents and future goals by sharing his dreams of global leadership with one talent people accustomed to one talent environments, consciousness and mentality. This attracted the envy of his brothers who did not understand then that the potentials for global leadership and greatness were not dependent on the biological position of seniority which the birthright of the first son automatically conferred on the first son as the leader of the pack of the sons. They were therefore very angry with Joseph, became very envious of him to the point of hating him and refusing to speak with him. In their one talent environment, mentality and consciousness, Joseph was cheeky and a threat to their leadership security. As time wore on and events unfolded, their hatred grew to the point where they wanted Joseph dead. But for the intervention of Reuben, Joseph would have been killed by his blood brothers simply because of their one talent mentality, consciousness and environment.  

Eventually Joseph was sold into slavery, still by his brothers. Yet Joseph never for once allowed his environment to define him. He refused to be subjected to a one talent person even in a one talent environment ruled by a one talent consciousness and mentality. Joseph treasured his five talents and allowed them to shine. In no time, Potiphar noticed and immediately acted. Joseph was promoted Chief of Staff above everyone he met in Potiphar’s house. But even then, Potiphar’s house was not the five talent environment God had for Joseph. Therefore challenges that would orchestrate his movement to the five talent environment showed up and Joseph was moved to prison. Was this promotion or demotion? Joseph again defined the environment. He did not allow prison and the unfortunate circumstances he found himself in to define him. Rather, he defined the environment, his five talents shone through and he enjoyed privileges in prison.

Challenges Are Stepping Stones

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

The life of Joseph best illustrates the adage that challenges are stepping stones. Every obstacle and limitation became the very much needed stepping stones to his greatness. First, the jealousy displayed against him by his brothers did not deter him from dreaming more dreams, from obeying his father-Jacob when asked to take food to his brothers in the wilderness and working towards the actualization of his dreams.  Besides, the eventual sale of Joseph to the Midianite traders and eventually Potiphar did not stop Joseph from becoming who God purposed him to become. Not even prison in a foreign land stopped his global leadership goal. All of the obstacles led him closer to the goal in addition to giving him adequate preparation for global leadership.

For every challenge, God has a solution only if we remember to call on Him to solve the problem. This is because God usually has a prepared or should I say postpaid solutions. Take for instance the case of the four horns that had scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem unchallenged for a long time. I am quite sure that like you and I, the children of God wondered if God had any plans to deliver them from such evil powers with the evil intent of destruction. But God had His plan and timing to deliver His people from such affliction. Beloved, a scattered people cannot plant, harvest and gather or achieve any progress in life. Therefore their heads will always be bowed.  The devil or the enemy's intent was to prevent them from walking in the full plans and purposes of God for their lives so that they would not achieve anything. Unknown to the Israelites and the enemy, God was working out a great and total deliverance package. He had four carpenters prepared that would not only terrify the four horns but would also cast them out and end their evil reign and activities in the land of Israel, Judah and Jerusalem.

Stay Relevant, Significant and Dominant

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Joseph became globally relevant, significant and dominant after he proffered solutions to the emergent problems/challenges posed by the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams. At the point where Joseph went to prison, he was emerging nationally, becoming visible and accepted because God gave him favor. That was why he led in prison despite the fact that he was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. But greater emergence, visibility and acceptance came when Joseph interpreted the dreams of the imprisoned butler and the baker of Pharaoh. Joseph’s acceptance and visibility soared and Joseph became nationally visible, relevant, and significant when when he was called upon to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. However, national relevance, significance, and dominance soared to global visibility, relevance significance and dominance when he proffered the solutions to the emergent problems and subsequently appointed next in rank to Pharaoh to implement the solutions he proffered. He was now a globally visible, relevant, significant and dominant leader controlling global resources in an efficient and effective manner – doing the job right and doing the right job.

To achieve global relevance, significance and dominance, you must be effective and efficient – you should be doing the right job as well as doing the job right.

You Are a Success Story

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

You are a success story waiting to be celebrated. But the waiting period does not have to be long. They can be tremendously shortened if only you will allow God to jump start you with His divine potentials and deposits inside of you. God deposited greatness and resounding success inside of you. But you need to discover them and surrender them to God. The seed for the tree is inside the tree. Find the seed that is inside the tree. It is your responsibility to identify and dig it out – Genesis Chapter 1 verse 12. God wants to use what is in your hand.  Look for what is in your hand. God will show you what you need to turn your life around. You can live a life of daily successes manifested in diverse miracles, signs and wonders if we make a true inventory of our potentials, find them and put them down. God wants you to make an inventory of the potentials in you. Within every human being are miracles, potentials waiting to be untapped. They are in there and may not even show an outward sign. If God could send Moses with a shepherd stick to Pharaoh, a global leader of his day, it means that God does not take account of your abilities. He only sees your possibilities.

There are special callings and purposes waiting inside of you to be discovered and used for God’s glory. However, what God will use that belongs to you must be surrendered to Him so that it can be used the way He wants you to use it. This is because whatever is surrendered to God automatically becomes the rod of God even as the rod of Moses became the rod of God. But it must first be given to God by casting it on the ground. The Apostle Paul learnt something from God when he was faced with insurmountable challenges – 1^st Corinthians 12 verse 9. He realized that grace is given to accomplish great things. This means that what you consider a seeming limited ability can accomplish great things if surrendered to God so that the grace of God takes over. Significantly, it is only when it is surrendered that grace is given to it – Exodus Chapter 3 verse 5. Holy ground is where God is. Therefore, anything you lay on holy ground is empowered by the Holy Ghost. God can use what you surrender to Him to revolutionize your life.  What is not surrendered remains lifeless and unproductive.

Excel into Global Limelight

Written by Uyoyou C. Charles-Iyoha

Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before king: he will not stand before unknown men, Proverbs Chapter 22 verse 29.

God’s will is for you to excel into global limelight, abundance, honor and fame which He ordained for you from the foundation of the world. A number of biblical success stories attest to this.

Huram was a craftsman, an engraver. But the Bible records that Huram was a highly skilled engraver who could make any engraving, and could accomplish any plan. This was what qualified him to serve as the master craftsman of King Hiram of Tyre. At the request of King Solomon for a skilled craftsman, King Hiram sent Huram with very strong recommendations to King Solomon. Huram lived up to his reputation and served King Solomon for several years – he worked on the temple, the articles of worship in the temple in the temple as well as the palace of King Solomon. Huram did indeed stood before Kings – from King Hiram to the wealthiest and wisest King of his time. Please see 2^nd Chronicles Chapter 2 verses 7, 13 to 14. Others include Ezra the Priest (Ezra Chapter 7 verses 6, 10 11, 21, 25), Daniel (Daniel Chapter 5 verses 11 to 14, 6 verses 1 to 4, 1 verse 4); Bezalel (Exodus Chapter 35 verses 30 to 35), Joseph,(Genesis Chapter 41) .